Tag: Lauren Redniss

It’s Friday, and what’s more, it’s a cold, gray, drizzly Friday. Hopefully, the weekend will bring us some nice weather, so we can get out and enjoy the slowly-changing leaves and all those other lovely autumn things (after all, today officially marks the start of the new season!). But for now, it’s Friday, and it’s the perfect kind of day to spend inside.

With that said, I’m going to point everyone in the direction of this beautiful website, which has been on the blog before. For those who haven’t checked it out yet, the site is a collaboration between the New York Public Library and Parsons the New School for Design. Intended to work with last year’s exhibit at the famous public library on 42nd Street and 5th Avenue in New York City, the website is very much in the aesthetic of the book, but also includes videos, games and other interactive features.

With the “Curiograph,” you can make your own (digital) cyanotype images in just a few short steps; you can also explore the Curies’ laboratory, simulated with items from the NYPL’s collections, and watch a video on how to make a real cyanotype print.

(And if you’re interested in doing so, then I’m also going to point you over here, to information about a cyanotype workshop that’s coming in October, hosted by the Madison Public Library and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art!)

My personal favorite game, however, is the Raidon Game: follow various mini-missions to collect all the crystals needed and deliver them to the Curies. It’s a little like living inside the world of the book, if only for a few minutes.

So there you have it. The best way to spend a rainy Friday afternoon? Easy answer: playing Radioactive games with Pierre and Marie!

Today’s Inside UW-Madison, the university’s newsletter for faculty and staff, includes this fantastic article by Jenny Price about Radioactive. It’s a great discussion of one of the best things about this year’s Go Big Read pick: its widespread appeal. Radioactive is not just a science book, although it deals with plenty of science; it’s not just an art book, although it’s certainly very artistic; and it’s not just a biography, although it certainly sheds light on Marie Curie’s private life. Below, my favorite quote from the article:

The book is an arresting mash-up of art and science, with cyanotype images and luminous pages contributing to the emotional impact of a story about the human side of innovation and discovery.

Maybe that’s why Radioactive is so interesting to so many people: it’s a human story. And of course that means the book can’t be just any one thing, because people aren’t just any one thing, either.

The article also talks about how members of the faculty will be incorporating the book into their courses, from introductory biology to journalism. Have you gotten your copy yet?